(PR.co.nz) New Zealand is often a forgotten backwater when it comes to the cutting edge of technological advancement. Compared to the UK and US, New Zealand lags behind – we don’t have Zip Cars, Pandora, or Netflix; and most of us still have both a landline and a cellphone. We still go to brick and mortar stores to shop, and “Cloud” usually means weather.

Enter Smudge Apps, a Mobile Development house that is making the world’s most exciting mobile technologies local and usable in New Zealand. Smudge builds Apps for some of New Zealand’s biggest brands, and their work means the you can do cool stuff from your phone in like record a TV show, buy a movie ticket, or pay your cellphone bill with the touch of virtual button.

Smudge was born in 2008 as an iPhone Development house, and after some early success commercialising their own IP, started taking on challenges from New Zealand’s household names. Their first commercial app, developed for Yellow, allowed New Zealanders to find what and who they were looking for. Forgotten an anniversary and need to find a Florist fast? No problem – the Yellow App orders results by their proximity to you, and will even give you directions on how to get there.

Since then, Smudge’s portfolio has grown to be an impressive “who’s who” of the NZ app scene, and now includes iPhone and Android apps for Stuff.co.nz and Vodafone, the Sky TV App for iPhone and iPad, work for Air New Zealand, Rugby Heaven, Flicks.co.nz, Video Ezy, and Australian directory search heavyweights TrueLocal.com.au.

“We have a huge amount of information all around us now.” Co-Founder Reuben Bijl says. “Apps can make all that information more useful, more usable, and add value through mobility.”